Opteka IR Infrared Filter

[kiowa]

I'm using a Sony-a850 with an Opteka Infrared Filter. I am using 1 sec exposure and 2.8f-stop and acheiving a red image. I then process this in photoshop to create a black and white IR image. My results aren't great and I'm looking for basic, tips, and advice. I've seen people post colored infrareds that really pop. Also, my IR's aren't very sharp.

[marcmccalmont]

Perhaps this might help http://www.maxmax.com/IRCameraConversions.htm
it explains that autofocus is affected by wavelength, are you focusing with liveview and the IR filter?
Marc

[Brian Hirschfeld]

Focusing, if you focus before and click it into manual so AF doesn't try and refocus should certainly help...if you are trying to manual focus with the filter on, anything except infinity is going to be very hard to get since its so damn dark.

What aperture are you using and what lens(es) are you using? this can affect sharpness

Also the quality of the filter might be suspect....

[kiowa]

I see a couple key points here. First of all my aperature is way to low. I have it at 2.8 with iso 200. I'll have to get up to f10 and compensate with a longer exposure. Also, thank you for the link as it lead me to http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/1111417 Using camera raw's white balance tool did help a lot. I like his tip to make a fill layer to add some color. I think I am good creating b & w infrared, but how about creating these interesting colored infrareds: http://www.noupe.com/photography/a-showcase-of-infrared-photography.html

-and i also wasn't doing the manual focus technique. thanks.

[kiowa]

I also think that me using cards to create my white balance will help with some good results. What color cards would you all suggest. I read using a white piece of paper in daylight is a good WB to start with.

[theguywitha645d]

To get color in an IR photo, there are two easy methods. One is to shoot a daylight image and convert it to Lab color and then just paste the grayscale IR image into the luminance layer. The other way, like those that you link to, is to change the WB sliders in the RAW processor to separate the "colors" and then continue processing in Photoshop using a combination of Lab and RGB colors spaces, hue and saturation, and selective color. I have an example of each method in this thread: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=66473.0

[kiowa]

I don't get it. If i use an IR filter and get an all red image how can i pull color from that?